tetradrachm about 224, but they gradually fell to much lower weights. In the latter case the drachm weighs about 50 grains, and the tetradrachm alxjut 220.
of Archelaus, king of Macedon.
iv. The later Phanician or Carlhayinian talent was in use among the Persians and Phoenicians. It was also employed in Africa by the Carthaginians. Its drachm (or hemidrachm) weighed, according to Mr, Burgon (Thomas, Sale Cat. p. 57), about 59 grains, and its tetradrachm (or didrachm) about 23G.
V. The Euboic talent in Greek money had a didrachm of 129 grains; but its system of division, though coming very near the Attic, was evidently different. The weight of its didrachm was identical with that of the Daric, showing the Persian origin of the system. The order of origin may be thus tabulated :
Macedonian, 22-1 didrachms.
I .iEginctan, 19C "
Attic-Solouian, 135
Euhoic, 129.
Later Phoenician, 236.
Respecting the Eoman coinage, we may here state that the origin of the weights of its gold and silver money was undoubtedly Greek, and that the denarius, the chief coin of the latter metal, was under tlie early emperors equivalent to the Attic drachm, then greatly depreciated. The first Koman coinage took place, accord- ing to Pliny {llkt. Nat. xxxiii, 3), in the reign of Ser- vius TuUius, about 550 years before Christ; but it was not until Alexander of IMacedon had subdued the Per- sian monarchy, and Julius Cwsar had consolidated the Roman emjiire, that the image of a living ruler was per- mitted to be stamped upon the coins. Previous to that
Early Roman Coin.
period heroes and deities alone gave currency to the money of imperial Rome. In the British ]Muscimi there is a specimen of the original Roman as, the surface of which is nearly the size of a brick, with the figure of a bull impressed upon it.
3. Coined ^foney mentioned in the Bible. — The earliest mention of coined money in the Bible refers to the Per- sian coinage. In Ezra (ii, C9) and Xehemiah (vii, 70) the word Cri-^SI^ occurs, and in Ezra (viii, 27) and 1 Chron, (xxix, 7) the word D-'rsn'^X, both rendered in the Sept. l)y \pv(yoi<c^ nnd in the ^'ulg, by solidus and drachma. ^Many opinions have been put forward concerning the derivation of the words adarlon and darkemnn ; but a new suggestion has recently Ix-en made, which, though ingenious, will not, we think, meet with tnuch siipiwrt. Dr. Levy (./«</, Miinzen, p. 19, note) thinks that the root-word is "*'^, "to stretch," "tread," "step forward," from the forward placing of
MONEY
485
MONEY
one foot, which a maii does in bending the bow. and that from this word was formed a nomi, '|13"|1, or with the Aleph prefixed 'pDIIN, "archer," which is the type upon these coins, especially as the ancients called the old Persian coins ro^orai. That the more extended form "|1^D"l1 could have been formed from the simple 'pD"lT is very possible, as the Mem could easily have been inserted. All, however, agree that by these terms the Persian coin Daric is meant. This coin was a
Daric. (Obverse : Kiug of Persia to the right, kneeling, bearing bow and javelin. Keverse: Irregular incuse square. British Museum.)
gold piece current in Palestine imder Cyrus and Ar- taxerxes Longimanus. The ordinarj' Daric is not of uncoiitimon occurrence; but Levy (/. c.) has given a representation of a double piece, thereby making the or- dinarily received Daric a half-Dark. Of the double piece, he says, only three are known. In this he is mis- taken, as Mr. Borrell, the coin-dealer, has a record of not less than eight specimens (F. W. Madden, Hist, of Jewish Coinage, etc., p. 272, note 4). Besides these gold pieces, a silver coin also circulated in the Persian king- dom, named the sighs. See Daric. Mention is prob- ably made of this coin in the Bible in those passages which treat of the Persian times (Neh. v, 15; comp. x, 32). Of these pieces twenty went to one gold Daric (Mommsen, Geschichte des Rom. Munzwesens, p. 13 and 855), which would give a ratio of gold to silver of one to thirteen (Herod, iii, 95). These coins also ha\'e an archer on the obverse. As long, then, as the Jews lived under Persian domination, they made use of Persian coins, and had no struck coins of their own. In these coins also were probablj' paid the tributes (Herod, iii, 89).
On the overthrow of the Persian monarchy in B.C. 833, by Alexander the Great, Palestine came under the dominion of the Greeks. During the lifetime of Alex- ander the country was governed by a vice-regent, and the high-priest was permitted to remain in power. Jad- dua was at this time high-priest, and in high favor with Alexander (Josephus, ^/^^ xi, 8, 5). At this period only Greek coins were struck in many cities of Palestine. The coinage consisted of gold, silver, and copper. The usual gold coins were staters, called by Pollux 'A\t^(n>- cpiioi. The silver coins mostly in circulation were te- tradrachms and drachms. There are two specimens of the tetradrachms struck at Scythopolis (the ancient Bethshan), preserved in the Gotha and Paris collec- tions. There are also tetradrachms with the initials ion struck at Joppa, which, being a town of consid- erable importance, no doubt supplied Jerusalem with money. Some of the coins bear the monograms of two cities sometimes at a great distance from each other, showing evidently some commercial intercourse between them. For instance, Sycamina (Hepha) and Scythop- olis (Bethshan), Ascalon and Philadelphia (Eabbath- Ammon) (jM tiller, Numismatique d'A kxandre le Grarul, 1464, pi. XX).